Cubs’ supporting cast steps up in rout of Yellowjackets

By

Sports

January 11, 2017 - 12:00 AM

HUMBOLDT — The Fredonia Yellowjackets seemed to have two common basketball sayings going through their heads on Tuesday night in Humboldt.
The first was “Make somebody else beat you.”
This has to be the mindset of all teams that face senior sharp-shooter Rayce Hoepker and the Cubs. Hoepker went into the game averaging nearly 28 points a game, so the Yellowjackets knew that to have any chance of pulling an upset, they had to limit him somehow.
The “how” appeared to be another saying, “If you foul enough, they won’t call it every time.”
This strategy also seemed to apply to Hoepker. The Yellowjackets made him work for nearly every basket and held him to five points below his season average at just 22 points.
“I thought we were really sloppy early,” Humboldt coach David Taylor said.
The flip-side for Fredonia was that with all the attention going to Hoepker it allowed Humboldt to get into the bonus — Fredonia committed 30 fouls — and give Humboldt’s supporting cast a chance to flourish in a 72-43 Humboldt victory.
“I was really happy to see the balanced scoring,” Taylor said.
The Cubs lived at the free throw line with a grand total of 39 foul shots attempted.
“We didn’t come out making our free throws at first,” Humboldt senior Joe Kline said. “We got it figured out though and the free throws really helped.”
Guards Bo Bigelow and Daylon Splane each got to the charity stripe the most with Bigelow attempting nine and Splane shooting eight. Each player made five.
They each used that rhythm developed at the line to score nine points with Bigelow hitting 2-of-3 shots from the field and Splane hitting 2-of-4.
Those are the most points Splane has scored since the season opener and for Bigelow, its his highest output in the past three games.
“With all the different things we do, there are a lot of opportunities for guys to get easy shots,” Taylor said. “I want guys to step up when the opportunity presents itself, because at some point in the year, we are going to have to have them do some things.”
Splane was all over the court with eight assists and eight steals on top of his point total.
“I thought Daylon played really well,” Taylor said.
The guards weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the Yellow Jackets’ attention paid to Hoepker.
Kline and Lance Daniels combined to shoot 8-of-11 from the field and they each scored 11 points.
“Rayce is always putting up the big numbers, but it is good (for us) to get into the double digits,” Kline said.

JUNIOR VARSITY
The Humboldt junior varsity was also able to pick up and convincing win on Tuesday night with a 51-39 victory over Fredonia.
Freshman Conor Haviland led the Cubs with 14 points.
Colin Gillispie scored 10 of his 11 points in a dominant third quarter performance.
Ryan Sellman had eight points and Zach Korte and Caleb Coronado each had six points.
Edward O’Neal-Wilks, Kyler Allen and Caleb Klauman each scored two to round out the scoring.

C-TEAM
The Humboldt C-Team completed the sweep by notching a 51-40 win.
Cooper Jaro led the Cubs with 12 points while Kyle O’Neal-Wilks had 11 and Briar Orth added 10.
Taylor Lassman and Xavier Bauer each scored six points. Josh Hull had three and Reid Smith had two.

Related
January 9, 2019
January 12, 2017
January 13, 2016
February 24, 2010